Toxic Stress

Toxic Stress

How to Keep Stress from Running Your Day & Life

The body has built in stress regulator glands that produce hormones/chemicals that help your body react quickly when you find yourself in danger. These trusty little stress hormones, produced by the adrenal glands are known as cortisol, and adrenaline, whose purpose is to pump you up enough to get away from a bad or dangerous situation. The bad news is… if you are unable to “get away” from the danger, or you are finding yourself under constant stressful situations, you may be churning out a toxic dump full of stress hormone into your system everyday! Stressful situations come in all sorts of packages and may include the following; getting up late, rushing from one event to the next, deadlines at work, not getting sleep at night, emotional burdens that are constantly with you, anger producing situations, your medical provider giving you or a family member an alarming diagnosis, your husband skips town or you just are trying to get through your day and it’s filled with too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

The stress hormones being released into your system in noxious amounts, creates a rather unique physical presentation. The body just seems to go into a supercharged state with an elevated heart rate, pupils dilated, blood rushing to large organs and away from the gut, blood pressure rises, sweating occurs and you are ready for action. If the stress hormones continue their production, you will eventually find yourself with a run down system. Over time, the body immune system becomes faulty, the memory and concentration goes out the window, the emotional stability is shot, your body begins accelerated aging and you will store fat around the middle of your body like no tomorrow! Yes, stress can do that and more!

So with all of that said, let us talk about what to do.

We know that it is not possible to avoid stress, but we can gain power over it by changing how we react to it physically and emotionally, and I do believe that there may be a few things we can do to reduce the stress around us everyday! Below are suggestions for how to get a handle on stress and calm your body gradually.

Stop saying you are stressed out. Instead, tell yourself that you are “in control,” “feeling good”, “and loving life” and “in the game”.

Start everyday with a healthy balanced breakfast, including things like eggs and oatmeal or a healthy protein smoothie, or high fiber/protein cereal (low sugar)
Eat every 3 – 4 hours if you are “stressed”. Save yourself from a -blood sugar crash!

Have your stress hormone levels checked at Ventana Wellness, the level that you may be releasing could be problematic for your health!

Breathe! Take a deep breath in; to the count of six; hold it for the count of three; and release it slowly to the count of six. Try this at least 10 times every day. You can do this anywhere!

Sleep like a baby. You need more sleep when you are under increased stress, so that means at least 8 hours per night. Get yourself relaxed in the evening, a hot bath, massage, lavender oil, and a cup of chamomile tea. Rebalance Stress supplements are another good option for stress treatment.

Stop worrying, it will kill you, and it does not help you one bit! Worship, meditation, and singing are wonderful for the soul and will lower Cortisol levels.

Listen to calming music, studies show this can produce physical calmness within 5 min. of starting it.